What Tinkering School does

Tinkering School is a San Francisco-based 501c3 non-profit educational organization founded in 2005 by Gever Tulley. It operates as a project of the Institute for Applied Tinkering, with the Tinkering School® trademark held by Tinkering Unlimited. The organization's core offering is hands-on maker education for children, primarily elementary and middle school-aged, delivered through in-person programs where participants use real tools (drills, chop saws, jigsaws, welding equipment) to build large-scale collaborative structures and mechanisms over multi-day sessions.

The program portfolio includes Summer Day Camp (San Francisco), Summer Overnight Camp, After School Programs, Weekend Workshops, Break Camp (winter, spring, Thanksgiving), Custom Camps for schools and groups, professional development Trainings, and specialized Mars Programs accompanied by a Mars Book publication. Operations are headquartered at 682 Schofield Road, San Francisco, and the geographic footprint is confined to the San Francisco Bay Area, with a documented school partnership at Mark Day School in San Rafael. Marketing is content-driven through project blogs, an email newsletter, and an active Instagram presence, supplemented by community word-of-mouth.

Revenue is generated through two streams: enrollment fees for camps and programs, and donations from supporters. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. The organization maintains a registered US trademark, a 20-year operating history, and an affiliated sub-brand (Brightworks) under the same parent non-profit. There is no disclosed venture funding, equity structure, or commercial ownership; the entity is governed as a non-profit under California and San Francisco law.

Name

Tinkering School

Legal name

Tinkering School

Website

https://tinkeringschool.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Tinkering School is a San Francisco-based 501c3 non-profit founded in 2005 that runs hands-on maker education programs for children, using real tools to build collaborative projects across camps, after-school sessions, and workshops in the Bay Area.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Children's Education Programs

NAICS

Other Technical and Trade Schools (611519)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Robotics, Engineering & Makers Camps (EDAMALAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Robotics & Engineering Summer Camps / Bootcamps (EDAMADAF), Teacher Training & Curriculum Providers (Robotics/Maker Education) (EDAMADAM)

Keywords

• Hands-on maker education
• Children's summer camps
• Project-based learning
• After-school programs
• Stem maker programs

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Camp and Program Fees: Revenue generated from paid enrollment in summer day camps, overnight camps, after-school programs, weekend workshops, break camps, and custom camps for schools and groups.
2. Donations: As a 501c3 non-profit organization under the Institute for Applied Tinkering, Tinkering School accepts donations from supporters.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Tinkering School runs hands-on maker education programs in which children use real tools (woodworking, metalworking, welding equipment) to design and build large-scale collaborative projects. The organization offers a portfolio of in-person programs — Summer Day Camp, Summer Overnight Camp, After School Programs, Weekend Workshops, Break Camps, and Custom Camps — primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area, supplemented by professional development trainings for educators and specialized Mars Programs with an accompanying Mars Book publication.

Product overview

Tinkering School is an educational organization founded in 2005 by Gever Tulley that operates a portfolio of hands-on tinkering programs for children. The organization believes kids are more capable than they know and gives them real tools to solve real problems. The core programs include Summer Day Camp in San Francisco, Summer Overnight Camp, After School Programs, Weekend Workshops, and Break Camp (offered during winter, spring, and Thanksgiving breaks). Additional offerings include Custom Camps for specific groups, Professional Development Trainings, and specialized Mars Programs with accompanying Mars Book publication. All programs share a philosophy of learning through doing, making mistakes and learning from them, collaborating, and trying harder than usual. Tinkering School is a project of the Institute for Applied Tinkering, a 501c3 non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California, celebrating 20 years of operation in 2025.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Brightworks: An affiliated program under The Institute for Applied Tinkering, similar to Tinkering School in its hands-on educational approach.

Products and services

• Summer Day Camp - San Francisco A hands-on tinkering day camp held Monday through Friday during summer months in San Francisco, where children use real tools to build projects and learn through doing.
• Summer Overnight Camp A residential overnight tinkering camp where participants engage in extended building projects over multiple days, constructing large-scale creations using real tools.
• After School Programs Tinkering sessions held after school during the academic year, allowing children to work with wood and learn tool usage while building collaborative projects over several weeks.
• Weekend Workshops Saturday and Sunday tinkering workshops offering hands-on building experiences for children and families.
• Break Camp Tinkering camps offered during school breaks (winter, spring, Thanksgiving) featuring multi-day projects that allow for iterative design and deeper team collaboration.
• Custom Camps Tailored tinkering camp experiences designed for specific groups, schools, or organizations with customized curriculum and projects.
• Trainings (Professional Development) Professional development and training programs for educators and facilitators interested in incorporating tinkering methodologies.
• Schools & Groups Programs Tinkering programs and workshops designed specifically for schools and organized groups.
• Mars Programs Specialized tinkering programs focused on Mars-themed projects and exploration activities.
• Mars Book Educational resource documenting Mars-themed tinkering projects and curriculum.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Institute for Applied TinkeringcoreOthersTinkering School is a project of the Institute for Applied Tinkering, a federally recognized 501c3 non-profit organization. This is the parent organization that oversees Tinkering School and Brightworks programs.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Mad Science: Large franchised provider of after-school and summer STEM enrichment programs for children, competing for the same school-channel and family enrichment customers.
• iD Tech: Large, established operator of STEM summer camps and after-school programs for kids and teens, competing for the same family enrichment wallet though tilted toward digital/tech topics.
• Code Ninjas: Franchised kids' coding and STEM education centers and camps offering after-school and summer programming, addressing the same enrichment-segment families at much broader scale.

Direct peers

• Camp Invention: Nationwide summer STEM/invention day-camp program for elementary children run by the National Inventors Hall of Fame, sharing the same target customer and STEM enrichment category.
• KiwiCo: Hands-on activity kits and digital projects for kids spanning arts, science, and engineering — competing for parental enrichment spend with a different (kit-based) delivery model but similar maker philosophy.
• Brightworks: Sibling sub-brand under the same Institute for Applied Tinkering parent, offering a hands-on, project-based K-12 school and programs in San Francisco with an overlapping tinkering/maker educational philosophy.
• MakerKids: Hands-on maker education camps and programs for children covering building, coding, and tinkering — overlapping directly with Tinkering School's core pedagogy and target demographic.

Emerging players

• DIY.org: Online maker community and skill-building platform for kids, offering a more accessible but less hands-on alternative to Tinkering School's in-person real-tool programs.

Regional players

• Exploratorium: San Francisco-based science and learning institution offering hands-on maker-style programs for youth, sharing geographic market and overlapping hands-on STEM education positioning.

Others

• Maker Ed: Non-profit organization supporting maker education in schools and communities, providing curriculum resources and educator networks adjacent to Tinkering School's mission.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/p/ChLf-bhJAIg

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tinkering School